To use WhatsApp’s ‘Reply Privately’ feature, users will need to press and hold chat in a group.

WhatsApp accidentally introduced the ‘Private Reply’ feature with beta v2.17.342 for smartphone users running Windows phone. WhatsApp ‘Private Reply’ feature lets people send private message to a user in group chat, without anyone else knowing. The private message will be sent as a personal chat.

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According to WABetaInfo, which first spotted the feature, ‘Private Reply’ will soon be rolled out for everyone. WABetaInfo is a fan site that tests new WhatsApp features. WhatsApp rolled out the ‘Private Reply’ feature in v2.17.342 by mistake, which was rectified by the Facebook-owned messaging app in its v2.17.344 beta upgrade. WhatsApp’s ‘Private Reply’ feature was then re-introduced for Windows platform with new beta v2.17.348.

To use WhatsApp’s ‘Private Reply’ feature, users will need to press and hold chat in a group. The option to reply privately appears in a pop-down menu. Post this, users can send message on private chat of the selected contact. The beta version that was initially released was full of bugs and ‘Private Reply’ option appeared in private chats, instead of group chat. The bug was removed in subsequent update.

WhatsApp’s latest update for Windows include several other features as well. For starters, a change in user-interface design for calls has been introduced, that is similar to the one on Android. Windows phone users can now easily switch between voice and video calls with Quick Switch feature. Meanwhile, WhatsApp, which is one of the largest messaging apps with over one billion daily users globally, is said to introduce a picture-in-picture mode as well as tap to unblock feature for users.